Improvement in low-water indicators and alarms



F. STRANGE.

Low-Water Indicators and Aarms.

Patented Augfusme, 1873.

FREDERIC STRANGE, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

IMPROVEMENT IN LOW-WATER INDICATORS AND ALAI-IMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 142,181, dated August 2G, 1873 application filed February 18, 1873.

' To all whom it may concern:

of Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State' of Michigan, have invented a new and useful lmprovem ent in a Boiler-Alarm for Indicatin g High and Low Water over Pressure, 8vo.; and I do declare that the following is a true and accurate description thereof, rererence being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon, and being a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of my device as applied to a cylindrical boiler. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the parts above the boiler.

Likev letters refer to like parts in both gures.

This invention has for its object to provide an alarm-attachment to Vsteam-boilers which will automatically indicate, by blowing a whistle, too high water or too low water, priming or foaming, or an over-pressure of steam in the boiler. The invention consists in a vessel having a tube in its bottomsuspended in the boiler, or, when the construction of the boiler will not permit,ior if otherwise deemed preferable, in a chamber attached to and communicating with the boiler at the lower end of a tube passing up through a chamber screwed into the top of the boiler or chamber connected therewith, with a valve on the said tube, and a valve-seat in the bottom of the chamber; which has a whistle attached to it, in a weighted lever for countervbalancing the weight of the vessel and tube,

the upper part of which is enlarged into a condensing-chamber and provided with a stopcock, all arranged to operate in the manner more fully hereinafter set forth.

In the drawing, A represents a segment of a boiler, in which is tapped a chamber, B, with the upper part of which is connected a whistle, C. D is a metallic vessel, with a conical bottom terminating in an open pipe, D. This vessel is suspended from the lower end of a tube, E, which is screwed into its top, the tube extending up through the chamber B, in the lower part of which there is a seat, a, on which seats a valve, b, on the tube E, at whose top there is a cock or valve, F, below which there is a chamber, Gr, which serves to condense any steam rising from the vessel D into it through the tube E. H is a lever, pivoted to a bracket projecting laterally from the upper part of the chamber B, its short arm coming under the condensingchamber G, the long arm being provided with a movable weight, H', by means of which the weight of the vessel D, tube E, and its attachments may be counterbalanced, which must be done before the boiler is lled with water. The vessel D and tube E are so proportioned that the lower end of the pipe D will be just above, or in line with, the lower gage-cock of the boiler, while the upper end of the pipe D will be just below, or in a line with, the upper gage-cock. The length of the pipe D will determine the range between high and low water.

The cock orvalve F should be left open while the boiler is being filled, and until steam is generated, when the pressure thereof will expel the air from and iill the vessel D, tube E, and condenser G with water, after which the valve F should be closed. Assuming that the boiler-pressure should not exceed one hundred pounds per square inch, that the water contained in the vessel D and tube weighs fifty pounds, and that the area of the valve b is one-half inch, then it follows that a steam-pressure in excess of one hundred pounds per square inch will lift the valve b, the tube E, and its attachments, and permit steam to enter the chamber B, whence it escapes through the whistle, sounding an alarm continuously until the pressure is reduced.

If the water in the boiler fall below the lower end of the pipe Dl the water in the vessel D immediately falls out of it, being replaced by steam, which has no appreciable weight, when the pressure of the steam under the valve I) will lift the tube and its attachments, as before described, and sound an alarm continuously until the water-line is again raised to its proper level. If the water in the boiler rises above the predetermined water-line, so as to rise above the upper part of the conical bottom of the chamber D, the latter with its contents loses a portion of its gravity, which permits the steam to lift the valve b and its attachments, and thus sound an alarm until the Water in the boiler is lowered to it proper level.

In the priming; or foaming of l[he Walter in the boiler the action of the device is substantially the seine as in low water.

I mn aware that Heats, spherical, cylindrical, and et' other forms, are employed in indica/tors Within boilers 0r chambers attached thereto, but these are either entirely close or open at the top or sides, producing an entirely diierent result from those which I seek to obtain.

What I claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The vessel D, with open tube D attached to the tube E, having valve b, in combination with a lever having a counterbalancing Weight, substantially as described.`

FREDERIC STRANGE.

Witnesses:

H. F. EBERTS, H. S. SPRAGUE. 

